Round 2, Match 1: Amelia Lost vs Between Shades of Gray

Judged byMarc Aronson

Last year Sugar Changed the World, which I co-wrote with my wife, Marina Budhos, was entered into this battle, and Adam Rex struggled to evaluate it against Jonathan Stroud’s compelling Ring of Solomon, a fine fantasy novel (it won). As Adam wrote, narrative nonfiction and fantasy were a perfect case of apples and oranges. I face a similar though more tangled issue this year: Between Shades of Gray is a novel, based on considerable research, which adds an important and tragic true story to the shelves of literature for young readers. Its power comes from bringing to light what has too long been hidden: Stalin’s use of the gulag to crush the artistic and intellectual flower of Lithuania. Amelia Lost makes use of an innovative narrative structure more conventionally employed in fiction to retell the familiar story of the adventurous life and mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

We have fiction whose largest claim is nonfiction, and nonfiction whose power comes from its resemblance to fiction. I feel like a hapless kid in dance class, whose feet keep getting tangled up. I wish the contest offered “best in show” prizes within a genre—then I could just honor these two fine books for what they have accomplished, rather than having to invent some way to compare them.

Serving on the National Book Award jury last year was particularly rewarding because a cluster of books came to us that, for the first time in decades, began to deal with Stalin and his crimes. For way too long, all of the moral and historical challenges of European history in the 20th century have been telescoped into the Holocaust. But, in fact, Stalin murdered nearly as many people as Hitler (and Mao slaughtered far more). And yet those other abominations had only very rarely been explored with our readers. Last year that began to change with Eugene Yelchin‘s wonderful (and I am so pleased to say, Newbery’s Honor-winning), Breaking Stalin’s Nose, Randi Barrow’s appealing Saving Zasha, and if you read carefully, even Joseph Bruchac’s page-turning Dragon Castle. The book to go furthest in exposing these hidden crimes was Between Shades of Gray.

Ruta Sepetys comes from a Lithuanian family, and clearly felt a personal sense of mission in writing this novel. That is evident not just in her extensive research, but in the care in which it is written. In a series of short chapters, each perfectly attuned to the attention span of her intended readers, she captures the experience of 15-year-old Lina, who is forced onto a train with her mother and younger brother—sent on to an unknown destination, which turns out to be a brutal camp in the frozen far north, well above the Arctic Circle. Lina’s family is suspect because her father had been thoughtful and a bit outspoken. But they are not alone. Stalin had determined to completely absorb the Baltic States – Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania—into the Soviet Union, and thus rounded up and exiled anyone with a spark of independent thought. The novel captures the crushing weight of Stalin’s plan in the day-by-day privations — so little food, warmth, shelter, rest that death lurks everywhere — even as, through Lina, her artistic talent, and her determination to find her father, there is also a heartbeat of hope.

Amelia Lost is an important, in some ways brilliant, book, in a totally different sense. Candace Fleming has found a way to take a story many readers may know, or half know, and turn it into a page-turning tour-de-force through her adroit use of form. She alternates the moment-by-moment drama as Amelia’s last radio transmissions crackle across the airwaves with the aviatrix’s full life story—until the two strands are fully and fatefully joined in the final step of her final flight. Russell Freedman had used a related technique in The Voice the Challenged a Nation, when Marian Anderson’s love of music juxtaposed with the racial restrictions she faced. But while YA fiction is full of novels constructed in flashbacks, alternating voices, and even intercut realities it is unusual for nonfiction to be as open to creative experiment. Kudos for to Candace for showing the way.

Just as Ruta hits it just right in her pacing and flow, Candace makes wonderful use our of captured eyes. We need to know what will happen next, so we can linger a moment to learn more about the real Amelia—the determined businesswoman, the sometimes cutthroat competitor, the consciously-created symbol of female independence. She has made an “I already know that” book into a “must read.”

Hesitations: In some sense the protagonist of Ruta’s book is Lithuania, with the characters serving to recount a nation, lost and found. That can feel a bit programmatic. The only other concern is one I don’t know how she could have met. While Ruta acknowledges anti-Semitism among the Lithuanians in the story, I don’t think she fully reckons with it. That is hard, because the Lithuanians were victims, and this is their story. And yet too many were also victimizers—90 percent of the Jews in the Baltic states were murdered, and some Lithuanians actively, even eagerly, collaborated with the Nazis in this destruction. I don’t think the story needed to be different, but perhaps just a beat more weight of facing that past in the author’s note would have helped—especially since deeply troubling anti-Semitism has flared up again in the modern and free nation of Lithuania.

In Candace’s case I once again found almost the opposite problem. She uncovered and shared so many close-in and fascinating details, from Amelia’s elementary school report card to the list of her awards and a short course in Morse Code, that when she hits her 128th and last page, the book comes to an abrupt end. She has room to rush through some of the theories about Amelia, but not to give us a big picture sense about why she, and this story, matter.

If I could make this a tie, I would. But forced to choose I pick Between Shades of Gray. As books, they are equally well-crafted and worth reading. But Ruta’s novel does for the destruction of Lithuania what, say, Paula Fox and Tom Feelings did for the Middle Passage—gave our readers access to a haunting, tragic, and crucially important part of our common past.

— Judge Marc Aronson

And the Winner of this match is……
BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY

This second round match has always held a couple of unique possibilities: the Nonfiction Match (AMELIA LOST vs. BOOTLEG) or the Russian Match (ANYA’S GHOST vs. BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY). As it is, we have yet another disparate pairing. We championed both of these books on Heavy Medal, but it will not surprise anyone that I would have picked AMELIA LOST. You’ll remember that my one quibble with BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY is its single linear narrative arc, and I might’ve had the same complaint about AMELIA LOST, but for Fleming’s decision to intersperse the search and rescue efforts throughout the rest of the story, giving it a uniquely suspenseful quality. As for the big picture, Amelia continues to inspire feminists everywhere, and I’m hoping that enough of them will vote for her in the zombie round, but since I’m expecting OKAY FOR NOW to win by a wide margin, I’m not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, Lina moves on to face yet another badass female character.

— Commentator Jonathan Hunt

Marc Aronson has a unique familiarity with B.o.B that is different from most of the judges on the panel. Having had both the experience of his book being judged in the battle as well as having judged other books, his difficult decision between these two historical-based masterpieces was well written and adept. Between Shades of Gray was clever, detailed, and represented in horrifying clarity the true stories of the struggle between the Soviets and the third world countries around the time of World War II. This fast paced adventure had my eyes glued to the page and whose characters captured my heart. Amelia Lost is a biography, well written and overcame the challenge of my age group knowing very little about Amelia Earhart and her life. Overall, I found it very informative, but rather dull and boring. On this match, I will agree with Mr. Aronson and crown Between Shades of Gray victor.

Comments

Best. News. All. Week. If yesterday’s news had me feeling down (deep, deep, down… I still love you, Doug Swieteck), then today’s news has me on top of the world! Between Shades of Gray is my favorite book in the BOB and I”m thrilled to see it advance!

PS: Fun Fact – In every single match so far (exception: Match 4), the “losing” title was reviewed first. So as soon as I saw Mr. Aronson start in on BSoG before Amelia, my heart sank. But 3 cheers for him for breaking the mold! Still buzzing over Lina’s advancement…

My streak of picking the winners this year is clearly at an end but in this case I don’t mind so much. I would have chosen Amelia Lost, but Between Shades of Gray is everything Mr Aronson described it as and I’m happy to see it move on.

I loved both of these books and am sad they had to be pitted against each other. However, I would have chosen Between Shades of Grey as well! Guess I’m one of the few that are happy Wonderstruck beat Okay For Now. I love Doug Swieteck too, but far more in The Wednesday Wars, which was such a great book for me that Okay For Now was destined to be a disappointment. Still mourning the loss of A Monster Calls. Almost finished with Life and still do find it anywhere near as amazing as the book it bested. My prediction tally stands at 8/9.

Am more determined than ever to get “Amelia Lost” into the hands of a young reader (or homeschooling parent!). Will be interesting to see if Between Shades of Gray can beat Ellen Lockhart’s pick in round 2. I am not vested in any certain book winning; just loving the author/judges’ dissertations!
Our March Madness with books beats the basketball brackets hands up!

I’m ok with this choice although I’d love to have seen Amelia go a little further in the match. I feel that she should have received some love on awards day so she was due for some here. I did think Marc Aronson’s one criticism of Amelia was valid and the thing, that in his mind at least, tipped the scales towards Between Shades of Gray.

Wow, Marc Aronson, that is an immensely well-crafted description of Amelia Lost. I have found myself reviewing that book, synopsizing it, and talking about it on the radio and each time I’ve struggled with describing the structure and the suspense in any way that made it sound good to read.

I’m at this point batting well below .500 with my predictions, but I don’t care one bit. Every contender is such a worthwhile read, and the commentaries are some of the best criticism I’ve read all year. Thanks!

Any choice today would have made me happy and sad. I loved both of these books and would have a hard time choosing one over the other. In fact, I couldn’t, and my bracket pick ended up being the sensible choice; I thought there was more overall love for Amelia.

I remember as I read Shades that I kept asking myself, “how is it possible I don’t know more about this? Why do I never see books addressing this time in history?” So it was extremely gratifying to hear Marc Aronson share that the tides were turning and more books were arriving that dealt with this part of history. I adored Breaking Stalin’s Nose and am now determined to hunt down Saving Zasha!

I’m glad this one is advancing. I had some hesitations about each of these titles, but I’m happy for Shades of Gray and the story it tells to get more notice. I recommend Breaking Stalin’s Nose to everyone, and will now look for your other recommendations. Thanks!

Wow, this was a tough one. I think I would have chosen Amelia, but having just finished Shades of Gray last week I can certainly understand why it now stands one step closer to the Big Kahuna round. Now, two whole days to wait before the big battle between Karou and Briony… go Karou!

How fortunate that an excellent historian judged these two excellent historical books. I was sure AMELIA would win, but my losing streak could not be going any better. And, yes, cheers for the Kid Commentators–they are incredibly articulate and fun to read.

I loved Breaking Stalin’s Nose as well, and I think the Kid Commentators are fantastic! I think the plan of RGN commentating on the first round and GI commentating on the second is great! Fresh opinions for us who are book savvy

I enjoy the fact that even when I’m not toooo invested in which title wins (I did like Between Shades of Gray a bit better, but I want either book to lose to whichever book wins the next match!), it’s still fun to try to predict which will win. My rule of thumb that the judge picks the title least like his or her own is holding true this year. (But as soon as I say that, there are sure to be exceptions.)

And, as always, what brilliant analysis! You can tell why these judges write such good books! They know what they’re talking about.

I completely agree with this judgement. Between Shades of Gray was moving, heartbreaking and kept me thinking for days after I finished. Amelia Lost was fascinating, but it didn’t have the emotion that came through the pages of Between Shades of Gray. Overall I can’t wait to see this winner in the finals.

I completely agree with this judgement. Between Shades of Gray was moving, heartbreaking and kept me thinking for days after I finished. Amelia Lost was fascinating, but it didn’t have the emotion that came through the pages of Between Shades of Gray. Overall I can’t wait to see this winner in the finals!